Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 415

Chapter 415: EX 415. All Alone
Leon listened in silence as his mother’s trembling voice painted the horror he hadn’t been there to stop.

After learning of Valeria’s death, the area seemed to lose its air.

Selena’s tone faltered as she explained how the war had turned into chaos, how the trial races, outnumbered and cornered, had resorted to guerrilla warfare.

The majority had taken refuge in the hidden city of Zion, while the trial takers were sent out to draw the demons’ attention away from it.

That had been the role of Leon’s parents, Luke, and Unit Alpha.

Valeria had served in Unit Delta, commanded by Diana Queen, Elizabeth’s mother, alongside two Silver Marshals. They were among the best.

But during one of their operations, when they lured a horde away from Zion’s true location, a Lord appeared.

It wasn’t a battle, it was a slaughter.

Selena’s hands trembled as she spoke.

“It was as if he came for only one person… Valeria.”

He had invaded their hideout, killed a few of her comrades, and vanished with her. Days later, her body was found hanging from a tall tower, bare, mutilated, her limbs severed and displayed for all to see.

Leon could almost see it.

His sister, bright, fierce, unyielding, yet reduced to that.

His false heart ached as something dark stirred beneath his calm.

He inhaled deeply, forcing himself to hold the storm down. There would be time to mourn later. Now, there was only one thing left to know.

“Who was the Lord?” he asked quietly.

Selena didn’t hesitate. The hatred in her voice was so raw it almost burned the air.

“It was Gordon.”

Leon’s cold expression shifted slightly, a glint of recognition flickering in his violet eyes.

That name… he had heard it before.

Leon’s gaze hardened as the name settled into place. Memory clicked, sharp and precise.

“So it’s him,” he said, his voice cold enough to frost the air.

There had been a time, long ago, before everything fractured, when he and Adrian had apprehended a demon inside a mall. A minor incident, almost forgettable.

Yet Leon had been detained afterward on some absurd allegation that his first trial exceeded the permitted limit.

Bureaucratic nonsense. Still, he had cooperated.

The man in charge of that investigation had been named Gordon.

Leon remembered him clearly now. Inconsequential. Small. The kind of man meant to pass through one’s life without leaving a mark, a footnote already meant to be forgotten.

And yet, like rot surfacing through old wood, he had forced himself back into Leon’s story, and killed someone Leon loved.

Leon didn’t need further proof. The way Valeria’s body had been treated said everything. That cruelty was a signature. He was certain.

“Why do people insist on being so foolish,” Leon murmured.

He didn’t wait. The moment he had his answer, intent followed. Rachel’s talent bloomed at his command, his perception unfurling like a net cast across the planet, sweeping through land and void alike.

Selena watched Leon as silence claimed him. He didn’t ask to see Valeria’s body. He didn’t cry. He simply stood there, still as stone, eyes distant.

She felt her chest tighten.

‘He’s always been like this,’ she thought. ‘Never showing more emotion than necessary.’

And then the heavier thought followed. ‘When did my boy stop being my boy?’

She remembered finding him. Raising him. Watching him laugh, struggle, grow into the Kael name. But somewhere along the way, that child had vanished.

In his place stood someone chasing something none of them could see or understand.

Something they couldn’t help him reach. And Leon had proven, again and again, that he didn’t need help.

Now he was proving it again.

If no one would avenge Valeria, he would.

If no one could soothe her soul, he would.

If no one could retrieve her body and give her peace, he would.

Because Valeria’s corpse had never been recovered. The demons had used it as bait, a trap meant to lure resistance forces out. Dayton and Selena had known that. And as parents bound by duty, they hadn’t gone.

They had failed one child by letting her die.

And failed the other by letting him become the one who had to avenge her.

Selena’s tears broke free. Dayton pulled her close, steadying her as her shoulders shook.

Then Leon spoke, sudden and calm.

“Found him.”

The words stunned them. One moment he had been silent, the next he spoke as if announcing the weather.

They didn’t need to ask who he was talking about; they knew it was Gordon, but the question was how he knew.

Before anyone could voice their confusion, the ground trembled.

Shadows thickened and peeled away from the earth as towering figures rose from them, creatures radiating power eerily similar to Sakura’s.

An oppressive aura crushed down on everyone present, stealing breath and courage alike.

Leon glanced at them.

“Make sure nothing happens to them while I’m gone. Okay?”

The creatures nodded in unison.

He turned back to his parents. For the briefest moment, the cold in his eyes softened.

“I’ll be back.”

And then he was gone, vanishing from the spot as if he had never been there at all.

Everyone present stared at the spot Leon had occupied only a heartbeat ago. The air still felt wrong, heavy, as if reality itself had been bruised by his departure. Then their eyes shifted.

The creatures remained.

Each one radiated the pressure of a Lord. Not diluted. Not restrained. Just pure, crushing existence.

A single Lord’s presence was enough to spell annihilation for an entire resistance cell, yet Leon had drawn more than a dozen of them out of his shadow like obedient sentinels.

They stood silently, forming an unbreakable perimeter, as Unit Alpha and the Governor waited, none of them daring to speak.

Elsewhere, Leon arrived.

The sight stole what little breath his false lungs still pretended to need. Hearing about it had been one thing. Seeing it was another entirely.

The echoes of cruelty were carved into her flesh.

Leon looked at the body of his sister. She was hung like some sort of criminal. He didn’t waste time; he used his telekinetic power to bring her down.

Looking at her corpse, he felt his head thunder. He quickly wrapped her in a cloak and held her in his grasp as his false blood turned glacial.

The world answered his anger.

Killing intent bled outward, drowning the region in suffocating pressure. Demons froze where they stood. Lesser beings collapsed, minds snapping before bodies followed.

Leon’s voice rolled across the land, calm and absolute, carrying judgment with it.

“Gordon.”

Silence screamed back at him.

“I’ll count to ten,” Leon continued, tone almost polite.

“By the end of it, you better have crawled here: not standing, not kneeling, but on all fours.”

A pause.

“And if I have to come to you instead,” he added softly,

“I’ll make sure you understand why begging was never an option.”